Black Man & Black Woman's Paradise

The life of a young black man living in the United States of America can be quite an adventure. It doesn’t matter if you’re African-American, Haitian, Cape Verdean, Cuban, Brazilian, African or belong to any other group. Some experiences are shared by all black men. So it was in my father’s time. And his father before him. And so it is in my time.

My name is Leonard James Etienne and I’m a young black man living in the city of Boston, Massachusetts. I attend Emerson College and major in Criminal Justice. Someday, I intend to become a police officer. Why the police? Simply because I can’t think of any profession where one wields more power. The police decide who keeps their freedom and who doesn’t. Long before a person winds up before a judge, jury and prosecutor, they meet the police.

When I was growing up in the Republic of Haiti with my parents, James and Elisabeth Etienne, I saw firsthand what the police could do. For good and for ill. Haiti isn’t a liberal country like the US. Over there, the government and its representatives wield supreme power over the lives of individuals. I’ve always wanted that kind of power.

Power is something that I crave. My father was a university president, and he had some power but not the kind I wished I had. My mother was a judge, and she had a lot of power, but again, not the kind of power I wished to wield. I wanted the right to protect and take life. Judges think they have that but they don’t. They have too many rules to follow. Their hands are tied for the most part. Cops have no such bindings. Must be why the police profession appeals to me so much.

At my college campus, there were quite a few interesting people. I’ve always been an intellectual at heart. I read a lot. Books written by Stephen King, Anne Rice, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Eoin Colfer filled my dormitory. I also loved existential music. The songs What I’ve Done, In The End and Numb by Linkin Park are my favorites. I also like Evanescence’s song Bring Me To Life and Green Day’s Boulevard of Broken Dreams. Happy Phantom by Tori Amos made me feel pleasantly creeped out. I also liked some rap songs. Riding Dirty by Chamillionaire absolutely rocks. Why? Simply because it’s true. The police in America always look at black male drivers suspiciously.

I began to look for what I can only call a kindred spirit. Someone who shared my interests and my view of the universe. Unfortunately, I didn’t find such a person. What I found made me wish I never went looking. Today, relationships between black males and black females are constantly debated in books, movies and television programs. Many black women seem to have nothing but negative feelings toward black men. They thought all black men were promiscuous, rude, unfaithful, and always strapped for cash. I can’t tell you how much this bothers me.

Growing up in Haiti, I saw plenty of smart and capable black men. When I attended College Notre Dame Du Perpetuel Secours, an all-male Roman Catholic school, my teachers were talented black male instructors for the most part. I know black folks can achieve great things. I just wish more of them remembered that. Young black men need to go to college. I know the challenges they face. Many young black men grew up in poverty-stricken neighborhoods. They had no fathers around. And they only men they saw were the neighborhood thugs. That’s such a sad state of the affairs in Black America. However, I know how we can overcome this. Young black men growing up in the inner city should join clubs or leagues in their schools. The public library and the local YMCA should be their favorite hangouts, not the street corner.

Quite often, the young black man in America not only has no father around, he also has no positive male role models. His mother quite often is no help. Many black women have bitter feelings toward the men in their lives. And they constantly voice their hatred for these men. Their sons listen to them voicing their anger and grief and this affects their self-esteem. The last thing a young black man needs is low self-esteem. It is just going to add to his list of problems. Having a low self-esteem renders a young black man quite vulnerable to drug dealers, violent people and other predators.

One of the greatest threats to a young black man’s existence is a messed-up woman. There are lots of women out there who prey on young black men. These women are black, white, Asian, Latin and everything in between. They prey on these young black men because they know they can get away with it. Young black men need to stay away from them. Quite often, young black men who are targeted by predatory females have no one to turn to. Their friends will laugh at them for being afraid of a female. Their families won’t care. And the police certainly won’t take the word of a young black man over that of a woman. Female predators often use the law against the men whom they seek to hurt. It’s a sad state of the affairs.

So what can a young black man do? He should get as many witnesses ( on his side) as possible. Document every word and action taken against him by the predatory female and have a friend present as a credible witness. He should get the woman on camera if he can. Nothing beats video proof, folks. Young black men should stay away from bad men and bad women. There are females out there who seek to trap young black men by getting pregnant before either they or the young black man in question is emotionally or financially ready for fatherhood. Also, many of the females who lust after young black men are promiscuous disease-carriers. Young black men need to stay away from them. Don’t date them. Don’t fuck them. Don’t talk to them. Stay in school. Stay away from racist policemen and racist policewomen. Avoid white male and white female exploiters, along with their black, Latino and Asian counterparts.

There are many social institutions designed to keep the black man down. The police are one of them. They think all black men are criminals. They’ve harassed black men who are off-duty cops, lawyers, doctors, scientists, journalists, mailmen, actors, singers, comedians, writers, professional athletes, social workers and activists. The policemen and policewomen who target black males do so because they think they’re invincible. They think they can get away with everything they do. And quite often they do. Black men can fight back by playing smart. Black men need to stay away from crazy, manipulative females. The cops always take a female’s word over that of a black man. So associating with psycho women isn’t a good idea for a black man.

Also, when black men are out in public, they need to realize that cops along with ordinary people walking down the street automatically think ‘criminal’ every time they see a black man. And quite often black women are guilty of the same thing. Who hates the black more, the white policeman or white policewoman or the black woman? Folks, the answer is the black woman! Nothing in the world hates the black man like the black woman. It’s sad but true. White women hate black men too. Black men are the most masculine and virile of men. They’re the most outspoken. The white feminist movement sees black men as the embodiment of everything they fear in men. Black men embody masculine power. That’s why white men and white women spend so much of their time trying to render black men powerless. And black women are quite often helping white female feminists and their male colleagues achieve this.

When stopped by a policeman or policewoman, or simply a security guard at a store or at the mall, black men need to stay calm. Answer their questions calmly and rationally. Defend your rights. Stand up for yourself. Don’t make threats. Just stay calm. The police are well-known to be racists. Back in the day, most white policemen were members of the Ku Klux Klan or sympathizers with these racists. That’s why they loved beating and locking up black men so much. Black men dealing with potentially abusive authority figures should stay calm. Take note of the incident. Get witnesses on your side if possible. Then report it. Call the news media. Post about it on the Internet. Call the NAACP. Or a black-friendly human rights organization. Make some noise but do so legally. Teach the racist white men and racist white women who abused your rights that they can’t get away with it.

This is 2008. Deval Patrick is Governor of Massachusetts. He’s a black man. Shirley Franklin is Mayor of Atlanta. She’s a black woman. Barack Obama is President of the United States of America. He’s a black man. Black men from schools like Morehouse College are succeeding in the corporate world. Black women from Spelman College are rising where no black women have gone before. Black men and black women can accomplish great things. We just need to stop hating each other. Seriously. The whole world hates black men and black women. We don’t need to hate ourselves.

There are many black men and black women out there who are criminals. A few of them do so because they are desperate, or don’t know any better. Some do it for thrill. Others do it because they’ve got no conscience. Yes, there are black men and black women out there with no conscience whatsoever. Those people are dragging the race down. We need to stay away from them. Kick them out of our families, offices and churches. We need to stop tolerating black men and black women who are criminals. They make all of us look bad. There’s no excuse for what they do. Not in an age where black men and black women have so many opportunities. All we need to do is grab them. Stay in school. Go to college. Don’t get anybody pregnant. Don’t get pregnant. Stay away from crime. Stay away from bad people in our hometowns, schools, malls, libraries, churches, families and households. Start working on building a better future for ourselves. That’s what we need to do. Kick the bad black men and bad black women out of the brotherhood and the sisterhood.